A while back I wrote a post speculating about the collaboration technologies today’s college students will expect to use when they enter the workforce. I guessed that today’s collegians will want to continue their use of social networking tools on the job — that they won’t consider these tools to be only suitable for ‘play time,’ but rather as important (integral?) parts of their day. More recently, I wrote a couple posts about Facebook, the social networking site that’s become wildly popular on many college campuses and is now penetrating the rest of society.
Frank Gilbane recently used Facebook itself to gather data about young people’s expectations for collaborationware. He made use of Facebook’s polling feature, which lets a member ask a single question, then specify the desired number of respondents and their demographics (gender, age, location, etc.). Facebook advertises the poll only to members who match these demographics, then summarizes responses as they come in and presents them to the asker. It looks like a nifty feature, and I might well use it myself.
Gilbane asked "Which collaboration technologies will you use most in your job in two years?" He first asked 25-34 year olds, then 18-24 year olds (500 of each). The answers he received are reproduced (with permission) below:
The largest difference, and a statistically significant one, is that the younger crowd has less faith that email will continue to dominate. As a group, the 18-24 year olds plan to make more use of text messaging (a channel technology) and social networking sites (primarily a platform technology, although Facebook does allow communication over private channels). Interestingly, they seem less enthusiastic about instant messaging than does the older set.
Gilbane’s findings don’t result from a rigorously constructed and administered survey, but I still think they have validity. They correspond tightly with stories and anecdotes I’ve been hearing, from many quarters, about the generational shift in technology use. Evidence is mounting that younger people don’t think of the Internet as a collection of content that other people produce for them to consume. Instead, they think about it as a dynamic, emergent, and peer-produced repository to which they’re eager to contribute.
Will corporate Intranets be ready for them? Should they be?
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a blog post due out soon that says – among other things – that I’m hoping a combination of Twitter and Facebook will render my use of email pretty much obsolete.
Example – I know about this blog post as soon as you posted a note to…FaceBook.
PS – I’m a bit older than you Andrew. I’m not yet ready to be put out to grass.
I find it interesting that over 10% think that they will use Facebook as their primary collaboration tool and that Facebook outranked blogs and wikis.
Working in my own company I am dealing with large companies for clients, but I the people I deal with are currently conducting part of their work outside e-mail. But the conversations bounce across the various channels and mediums. The last 9 months to a year it has become more so with the advent of Twitter (a year ago) and Facebook (Fall when the doors opened to all). These communication channels have quickly become used by my clients and potential clients as they are less formal.
But, the downside is real business and issues of consequence are decided in these conversations. But, the fluidity across the channels make the process to track them difficult.
I finally captured this (as I am finding many trying to think though solutions) in a blog post, Stitching Conversation Threads Fractured Across Channels ( http://vanderwal.net/random/entrysel.php?blog=1928 )
Andrew – interesting information. I’m personally fascinated with Facebook, and have been making use of it as a business tool. To provide further anecdotal input, I have found that SMS/Text and Facebook combo to be more effective than IM, and am finding I rely on IM much less as I use Facebook and SMS more. Twitter has been a pleasant surprise for me – less so from a standpoint of “i’m in NYC now’ and more so from a microblog standpoint as well as a direct and direct/cc (i.e. @bmagierski) standpoint.
Both for Twitter and Facebook I find the SMS integration to be critical to its utility for me.
^ brian
“Will corporate Intranets be ready for them?” I thought they already were. :coolsmile:
Two things strike me:
1. It was done on Facebook so the sampling was already self-selecting.
2. The Blogs/Wikis answer for the Old Farts between 25-34 is _painfully_ low. It’s so shockingly low my educated guess is that’s due to lack of adoption/use/experience. Jeffrey
As company’s move forward to develop appropriate strategies towards using web 2.0 for online marketing and branding, developing customer relationships, and using customers from a CGM and customer evangelism point of view, technologies being used for communication by their employees are equally important. Wonder why the blogging/wiki component garnered such less votes…what with the culture of corporate blogging picking up. My research in the area tells me that Organisations are setting up more and more CORPORATE BLOGS for communication with employees, customers and prospects.
A quandary:
If I publish something on my blog, it’s available to Everybody.
If I publish something on Facebook it’s available to — other Facebook users.
Since not all productive collaboration is planned, doesn’t it therefore make sense for me to avoid publishing stuff on Facebook?
Facebook is popular amongst younger users but it nost used much outside of that demographic. Unless Facebook evolves as their current user base ages, they will have a major problem similar to what myspace will see in the next 5 years as they have tons of stale data from kids no longer in school.
Andrew,
I think email is here to stay. When is Email 2.0 going to come up? It’s apparently every other thing has evolved except email.
Why haven’t anybody exploit the benefits of how the most used communication tool as a alternative medium.
Edmund Ng
The future of collaboration will be a function of providing various media that satisfy individual learning and communication styles. We can already see this in the love/hate debates about services like Twitter and Facebook. Some love them, some hate them, and the groups are strongly polarized. There is a set of traits that can be used to map out what this Web 2.0 communication landscape looks like, and no single medium will prevail.
See my blog for more:
http://smoothspan.wordpress.com/2007/08/29/web-20-personality-types/
I couldn’t agree more that Facebook.com is all about collaboration and networking. But the future of collaboration will not be related to social networking websites like Facebook.com or Bebo.com. These might be a great examples for researcher to gain idea for future development of collaborative workplace or organizational environment but “the hype” of Facebook.com will eventually go away like myspace.com and so on.
i dont care about these like facebook. i think the smaler bookmarkt tools like misterwong are better for the user to search an comunicate.
I agree with Fernstudium, I beleve this hype about facebook won’t be long. And I don’t use these bookmark tools. I like social linking the way http://www.backlink4beer.com does it.
I’ve tried to figure out how these networks will actually be of any use for business. Sure, the “real” friends you have are useful, but you already had ways to connect with them. All of those other “friends” are your friends when nothing is on the line. It’s a whole different thing when there is money involved. I still haven’t seen the study that says which resource would you be more likely to use to make an important financial decision? The Yellow Pages, or your friends list on Facebook?
I dont think Facebook will ever be used as the primary collaboration method within business. Apart from maybe a few, Which are internet based businesses.
The idea of it overtaking email, to me, is ludicrous.
I can't ever see facebook or social networking over taking email. Email is cheaper and faster than postal and social networking is already full of mass advertising.
Also isn't facebook starting to see the numbers of new members slowing down?
Has it lost it's appeal??
The future of collaboration will be a function of providing various media that satisfy individual learning and communication styles.
http://www.stafingpower.com
I just wonder why old people don't want to use facebook or even sms text messaging when they want to communicate to others?
I just wonder why old people don't want to use facebook or even sms text messaging when they want to communicate to others?